Developing rack



A. ANDERKIN DEVELOPING RACK April 3, 1951 Filed June 2, 1947 Z! KW w 0 E M v 0 N a m m T m v m m llL IIT L Patented Apr. 3, 1951 DEVELOPING RACK Arthur Anderkin, Georgetown, Ohio Application June 2, 1947, Serial No. 751,773

4 Claims. (Cl. 95-100) This invention relates to developing racks for developing negative or positive material in strip form. While the invention is applicable to use by photographers of all sorts whether amateur or professional, I have found it to be particularly well suited to the development of direct positive paper strip, such as is used by itinerant photographers at county and State fairs and the like.

The amount of production which could be achieved in a photographic concession at such a fair is limited largely by the capacity for developing the direct positive strip on which the latent image is made. The actual exposure or exposures by which the picture or pictures are made can be accomplished very rapidly, but then there is a delay while the strip of paper is being developed. I have found that often a large crowd of one hundred or more people would gather around such a concession waiting to have photographs made, and because of the slowness with which the processing is accomplished, a large proportion of the crowd will turn away and go on to other concessions, whereby a considerable amount of business is lost.

The strips of direct positive paper to be developed will be of varying lengths. Sometimes there may be only four or five pictures on the strip and if there is no crowd waiting it may be practical to develop that short strip. On the other hand if a large crowd is waiting, it is more practical to take a larger number of pictures and then develop the longer strip all at one time. Up to the present time, the direct positive paper strips have almost universally been developed manually by drawing the strip back and forth through a tray of developing solution, then drawing it back and forth through a fixing solution and then a washing solution. These procedures are carried out in very dim photographically safe light and have the further disadvantage that the operator's hands were constantly coming in contact with the developing and fixing solutions. Many operators have skin which is allergic to these solutions, so that these procedures have caused discomfort to the operators.

In the light of the above outlined difliculties, it is an object of my invention to provide a developing rack on which a strip of direct positive paper can be wound in its dry state, so that the loaded rack may then be placed in appropriate chemical solutions for its processing without the operators fingers coming into contact with the processing solutions. It is another object of my invention to provide a rack as outlined above which will have a capacity consid'-- erably larger than the length of strip which an' operator can process manually.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a rack as outlined above which is adjustable so that different lengths of strip may be wound thereon, so that it will be unnecessary to expose a predetermined number of pictures before processing a strip of film.

It is a still further object of my invention to provide a rack which Will be universal in that it can be adjusted to accept strips of different widths.

Another object of my invention is to provide for the sinuous winding of the material on the rack so that the emulsion side will be alternately on the inside and outside of successive bends in the material. In connection with the members about which the strip is bent with the emulsion side inward, it is an object of my invention to provide an arrangement whereby the image area on the emulsion side is held out of contact with any supporting element so as to permit continuous contactwith the processing solutions.

It is a still further object of my invention to provide means for fastening the film or paper to the rack at both ends, so that it will be securely held on the rack throughout the processing steps.

These and other objects of my invention which. will be pointed out in more detail hereinafter or which will be apparent to one skilled in theart upon reading these specifications, I accomplish by that certain construction and arrangement of parts of which I shall now describe cer tain exemplary embodiments.

Reference is made to the drawings forming a part hereof and in which:

Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of a rack according to my invention.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same with parts in horizontal cross section.

Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the same.

Fig. 4 is a cross sectional View, taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 55 of Fig. 2 showing a preferred form of clamping arrangement.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary perspective view showing a modified clamping arrangement.

Fig. 7 is a cross sectional View taken on the line '!1 of Fig. 6.

Briefly in the practice of my invention, I provide a framework, having two spaced series of legs depending therefrom about which a strip of film or positive paper or the like may be sinuously wound. The strip (which will hereinafter be referred to as a strip of supporting material for photographic emulsions) is secured to an end leg of one series of legs and then passes back and forth sinuously over the other legs and is securely fastened to an end leg of the other series. Since the emulsion side of the supporting strip will alternately be on the inside and on the outside of a bend, the legs of one series. must be slightly different from the legs of the other series. It is sufficient for the legs in that series, about which the strip bends with its emul: sion side out, to have a simple groove of a width at least suflicient to accommodate the strip. The strip in passing about the legs of the other series however will have the emulsion side inward, and I make a special provision in this other series of legs, so that the strip is only contacted at its edges whereby the photographic solutions may be in contact with the strip throughout its entire length.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, I have shown a rack having eight legs. It will be clear, or course, that this is by way of example only and is not in any sense a limitation upon my invention. The framework of the rack comprises, in this particular embodiment, four rails l connected together by cross members II at their ends and a central cross member l2.

While this rack may be made of a variety of materials, I prefer to make it from one of the plastics and shall so describe it. It will, of course, be clear that it could be made from stainless steel or other suitable material.

The member 12 will preferably have the dovetail configuration, shown in Fig. l, and preferably in the dark room, I will provide a loading station in which there will be a member such as indicated diagrammatically at I3,having a dovetail slot. This forms a convenient holding device for the rack during the process of loading the strip onto the rack. The position of the rack, shown in Fig. l, is the position it will normally occupy in the developing solution, butduring the loading it will be preferable to hold the rack in an inverted position, that is with the legs extending upwardly.

The rails it! are provided with slots [4 on both sides and the slots is will be provided with a series of indentations l5. The leg members at the top will have the configuration best seen in Fig. 3, comprising the arms H5 terminating in the inturned fingers ll. will ride in the slots l4 having the depressions 15, will be provided with the projection if! of a size to engage in one of the depressions I5. If the device is made of plastic the arms IE will have a certain amount of spring, and the legs may be adjusted back and forth along the rails ill by exerting a slight pressure which will cause the arms E6 to spring apart slightly, ,sothat the projection 18 becomes disengaged from one ,of the depressions E3. The leg can then be slid along the rail 13 to any desired position where the projection is ,can engage with another depression !5. It will be understood that if the device is made from a nonresilient material, the projection 13 will have to be a separate pin member backed ,by a spring to permit adjustment of a e a o e a r 0- One of the series of legs, which I have indicated at 2!), will be providedwith the simple slot 2.! which will be of awidth to accept the widest strip of supporting material which ls-tohe used.

The fingers H, which 4 In cross section the slot portion 2| will be rounded as indicated at 22 in Fig. 4, and the series of legs 20 will be the series over which the strip passes with the emulsion side out.

The other series of legs which I have indicated at wil lhave a stepped groove. In other words, they may be considered as having a groove similar to the groove 2| further relieved over the major portion, leaving only narrow ledges at the ends to support the strip. The ledges are preferably rounded as indicated at 3! in Fig. 4 and may if desired be cut away to provide the toothed effect, indicated at 32, so that the strip is only snpported on short lines along its very edges. The strip is indicated at 33 in Fig. 4, and it can be seen that the strip is spaced from the bow of the leg, so that the photographic solutions have access to the emulsion throughout the length of the strip.

In order that this rack may be used for strips of various standard widths, I provide the legs 30 with the slots 34 and'I constitute one edge of the above mentioned groove as a separate piece which may be moved along the leg 30 to any desired standard position. Thus, as seen in Fig. 3 I have provided the members 35, which embrace the legs 30 and have a portion entering in the slot 34. On the other side of the leg from the slot '34, I provide a series of depressions 3 6, and the member 35 is provided with a small projection 31, which may engage in a selected one of the depressions 33 in the'sameway as described above in connection with the projection l8. Thus, the ledge 3!! is a part of themovable unit 35 and may occupy any desired standard posi tion along the leg 30. s I I v In connection with one end leg of each series, I provide clamping means whereby the end of the supporting strip may be attached securely to that leg. The structure is the same in principle for both types of legs, but with the type of leg 20, the problem of adjustability is not encountered. I have shown at 4i] and GI bosses extending from the end leg 20 to provide a bear ing'forthe shaft 42. The shaft 42 may be bent over at one end as at 43 to constitute an actuatinglever. Fastened on the shaft 4| are a number of eccentrics 44. Two of the eccentrics 44 are disposed adjacent the ends of the groove 2|. The remainingmembers {54 are spaced so as to lie opposite the edges of various standard sizes of strip material. Thus'a very narrow strip of ma terial might be engaged by the two lower-most members 44, as seen in Fig. 1. As will be clear from a consideration of Fig. 4, if an end of the strip material is inserted between the leg 2t and the members 44, as indicated at 33a, and the shaft 4? is rotated counterclockwise, the members 45 will wedge the end 33a of the strip against theleglll and hold it securely fastened thereto.

' The arrangement on the end one of the legs 30 is similar, except that the shaft 42a has only one member 4.4.fixed to it. The othermember 44 is fixed against rotation on the shaft, but not against longitndinal movement with respect thereto. Thus for example, the shaft 42a may be square and the, member ,44 which isadjustable may bea part of a hub member 45, which has a sqnarehole through it. Alever 46 may be .secured t0 he hub ,45. The hub 45 is J'ournaledin nexte si I41 .0 a membe Corresponding in allother respects to one .ofthemembers 35 and indicated at .3511 inthe drawings. As the, member 3 5,,is adjusted up and .downalong the leg .30.

sde e i edpa ore it ca s with it he xtension 41, hub 45, member 44, and the lever 46. Regardless of the position of the member 35a, with respect to the leg 30, movement of the lever 46 will rock the shaft 42a and both eccentrics 44.

In loading a strip 33 onto the rack, described above, one end of the strip is secured to the first leg 20, as described above. and the strip is then sinuously wound back and forth and the other end of the strip, as indicated at 331), is similarly secured to the leg 30 as just now described. Fig.

4 represents the maximum length of strip which the device of this particular embodiment can hold. If a shorter strip is used the various legs 20 and 30 may be slid along the rails toward the center so that substantially any length of strip can be accommodated between the first member and the last member 30.

In Figs. 6 and '7 I have illustrated a simplified clamping arrangement for the ends of the strip. For consideration of economy the eccentric structures hereabove described may be eliminated, and instead, the first leg 20 and the last leg 30 may be provided with a groove 50 and an abutment ledge 5|. The groove 50 preferably gets deeper the farther it is removed from the end of the leg. The clamping element is constituted of a member indicated generally at 52, which is of a configuration similar to a hairpin having the straight limb 53 and a limb 54 provided with the bends 55. The terminal bend, indicated at 56, normally lies adjacent the leg 53 when the pin is not in use.

In use the end of the strip, indicated at 330, is abutted against the ledge 5| over the slot 50, and the clamping member or pin 52 is inserted, as shown in Fig. 6 in the direction of the arrow A. When it is in place, the end 330 of the strip is compressed into the groove 50 and clamped therein, as best seen in Fig. 7. It should be noted that in Fig. 6 the particular leg 20a is shown in its inverted position, which is the preferred position for loading the strip onto the rack.

It will be clear that many modifications may be made in the specific structure described and shown without departing from the spirit of my invention. I therefore do not intend to limit myself otherwise than as pointed out in the claims which follow.

Having now fully described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A photographic developing rack comprising a rectangular framework having two spaced series of legs depending respectively from opposed ends of said framework at right angles thereto, about which a strip of supporting material for photographic emulsions may be sinuously wound, with the emulsion alternately on the inside and outside of successive bends, each of said legs in one series having a shallow groove of strip width to support said strip with its emulsion side out, and each of the legs in the other series having a shallow groove of strip width, said last mentioned grooves being further relieved over the major portions thereof so as to leave narrow ledges at the ends'of said grooves for contacting and supporting said strip, with its emulsion side in, along its edges only, each leg of said other series having a groove of variable width, one of said narrow ledges being incorporated in an element which is mounted for slidable movement on said leg with respect to the other of said narrow ledges, which is fixed.

2. A developing rack according to claim 1, wherein said leg of said other series is provided with a slot in at least one'side, and wherein said slidable element has a finger engaging in said slot and a member engaging the opposite side of said leg from said slot, a series of depressions in said leg, and a projection on said slidable element, said projection being resiliently arranged whereby said slidable element can be yieldingly set to provide a groove of the desired width.

3. A developing rack according to claim 1, in which clamping means are provided in connection with an end leg of said other series for securing to said leg of said other series the end of a strip of supporting material.

4. A developing rack according to claim 3, in which said clamping means comprises a shaft journaled parallel to said leg of said other series, said shaft carrying fixed thereon a cam in position to cooperate with said fixed ledge, and said shaft carrying slidably but nonrotatively another cam arranged to cooperate with said slidably mounted ledge.

ARTHUR ANDERKIN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 951,983 Center Mar. 15, 1910 967,114 Depp Aug. 9, 1910 1,214,408 Barr et a1. Jan. 30, 1917 1,837,223 Kohlmeier Dec. 22, 1931 2,298,963 Naylor et al Oct. 13, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 280,527 Cocanari et a1 Dec. 12, 1930 

